Slice Open the Snow Camel

Hi.

This week has been really cold. Its the kind of cold that really smacks ya right in the face right when you go outside. We were biking from a recent convert’s house that lives really far and I almost thought we weren’t going to make it. I kept thinking about the part in Star Wars when Han slices open the snow camel and puts Luke inside to stay warm... I could have really went for a nice warm snow camel to snuggle up inside of. It’s different than Utah in that it is not only super cold at night but instead its super cold all the time. And in winter its always cloudy and so I realized this that I hadn’t seen the sun for a long time but then on our way to church I saw it. I was really great to see the sun again, and really weird because even with the sun the air was still freezing.

Our gold investigator is still doing great. She came to church again and is reading and praying. We are really excited. This last Sunday I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost and I had to write it all out in Finnish because I didn’t want to freeze and forget simple words. I had my companion (who is younger in the mission than me but knows the grammar like a whip KWA-CHEE (whip sound)) go through and correct some stuff. The talk went pretty well and was understandable, but after our investigator said she could correct it even more for if I ever wanted to give it again. And I saw her correcting just the first page and there were A LOT of corrections. Haha. So, in other words, I was humbled.

We are still doing a lot of finding and things are a bit slow still. But I’m having a great time. My companion is cool and the area is sweet. I wish I hadn’t ruined my camera battery because the winter time is really pretty. When it gets super cold the trees get frosty white, it is somehow different than in Utah, but it is really pretty.

All is going well here. The mission is a good life.

Thanks for all you guys do. I love and miss you all. Keep being cool.

Vanhin Merkley